Comments on: The lumpy 3D Earth

By: Links und Videos der Woche (2011/15+16) :: cimddwc

Links und Videos der Woche (2011/15+16) :: cimddwc — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 09:17:00 +0000

[...] Viele tolle 3D-Bilder (für Rot-Blau-Brillen), u.a. von der klumpigen, kartoffeligen Erde (via Bad Astronomy) [...]

By: mike burhart

mike burhart — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 17:30:24 +0000

Even tho the Earth is round it is not a perfect sphere as this shows in nature rarely is there perfect gemontry.By the way there is a group called the flat Earth socitey that beleves the Earth is a flat disk and is very anti-science they are one of the driving forces behind the so called Moon landing hoax in fact they say that no one has gone into space the space program is a hoax they say.Forturenly this group is not big and only has a few members and Phil to deal with.

By: Lavocat

Lavocat — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 01:32:17 +0000

The Yellowstone caldera looks like an acne pustule about to burst.

Ewwww.

By: Jon

Jon — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 18:29:05 +0000

What’s up with Hawaii?

By: Messier Tidy Upper

Messier Tidy Upper — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 17:15:16 +0000

@ ^ Lila : Or does Earth need planetary liposuction or a regular jog out to Pluto’s orbit & back?

By: Lila

Lila — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 14:24:41 +0000

Oh my…not too flattering. A good wardrobe stylist could help hide those unsightly lumps.

By: Nicholas

Nicholas — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 13:09:26 +0000

This is somewhat unrelated, but it’s something I’ve been wanting to know for a long time. I discovered ‘stereoscopic images’ almost a decade ago now, where you see a 3D image by crossing or relaxing your eyes. This technique allows full color 3D images without the need for any glasses, whereas anaglyphs have limited color reproduction, require the viewer to have special glasses, and often provide unsatisfactory results.

So why are all these space related images released as anaglyphs instead of stereoscopic images? I get very depressed when I boot up my work computer in the morning, see something cool like this come across, and must, yet again, pass on experiencing it…

By: Joshua

Joshua — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 13:05:15 +0000

It looks as though much of western North America is the super volcano with Wyoming at it’s crater.

By: Michel

Michel — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 08:57:08 +0000

@One Eyed Jack
Ok, it has the ark, but still it ends correctly in 2012…
;^)

By: Messier Tidy Upper

Messier Tidy Upper — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 05:55:52 +0000

@ 2. Erin N. : “I can’t wait until a globe manufacturer creates a physical representation…”

I happen to own one small globe with a very big dent in it! I keep saying the dent (over the Pacific & northern Queensland, Australia) must represent a major impact event but perhaps it was just an early draft attempt at accurately representing this!

By: Wzrd1

Wzrd1 — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 04:53:21 +0000

I have a dozen of the 3D glasses, never COULD see a 3D image without literally getting a headache and THEN for a few seconds. :/
THAT said, I HAVE saw other “bumpy Earth” images of the gravitational field. They gave me things to consider, which was crazy cool!

By: Messier Tidy Upper

Messier Tidy Upper — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 03:15:37 +0000

Shhh … Don’t tell the IAU about this – or Earth will get demoted and stop being a planet!

By: TJ Czeck

TJ Czeck — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 00:08:13 +0000

@3 Juergen: Go see Phil’s original post. It will give a better and fuller explanation. The short version is the surface of the geoid is a constant gravity level. You would feel the same pull of gravity if you were standing on a “hill” or in a “valley”.

The 3D pics are AMAZING! FWIW, I got my glasses from a documentary called “Trinity and Beyond The Atomic Bomb Movie” directed by Peter Kuran.

By: David Vanderschel

David Vanderschel — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 23:31:05 +0000

You can get Anaglyph 3D glasses for FREE from Rainbow Symphony if you include a SASE with your request. You can easily guess the Web address of Rainbow Symphony.

By: Scott K

Scott K — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 20:55:07 +0000

To those without red/blue glasses, I just got my pair in the mail–free plus $1.50 S&H from Mystery Guitar Man, here: http://mysteryguitarman.tubeconic.com/categories/*-3D-Glasses/ (limit one per order/person/whatever.)

First time I’ve actually had a pair handy for one of BA’s posts!

By: One Eyed Jack

One Eyed Jack — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 20:30:30 +0000

@#7 Michael

It may start with the big bang but they couldn’t resist sticking an ark in there. Ugh.

Nice video, but I prefer OK Go, even though I imagine it had a lot of behind the scenes help to time and trigger things.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybUFnY7Y8w&feature=player_embedded

By: Larian LeQuella

Larian LeQuella — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 18:19:08 +0000

Forgive the bit off topic. Just some news in the “it was bound to happen” category: http://vaccinesandevolution.blogspot.com/2011/04/measles-outbreak-hits-europe-most-cases.html

By: Michel

Michel — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 17:23:07 +0000

For those who don´t have red-green glasses.
Enjoy The World Record Rube Goldberg Machine 2011 made by the Purdue University.
And yes, it starts with The Big Bang!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdPDn1KUz_A

It´s a must see also for those with glasses, altough it isn´t in 3D. So take ´m off.

By: David Vanderschel

David Vanderschel — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 16:50:51 +0000

I checked out some of Nathaniel’s other efforts on his flickr site. On one of Mars terrain picture, he credits an animation by Doug Ellison (www.dougellison.com) as the source for his data. I checked out Ellison’s site because I have always maintained that a simulated flyover animation would be a much more effective way of giving a more natural ‘feel’ to the 3D information. The animations I observed there confirm this for me.

The problem I have with stereoscopic vision is that, in reality, it only works for short ranges. Beyond about 60 feet, stereo does not really help much. To exploit it on large distant objects, you have to exaggerate the effect by effectively placing the eyepoints much farther apart than they are on a human face. I.e., a human at the actual scene could not perceive what is presented as a 3D stereo pair. What you see in such a stereo pair is more like what a human would see if he were overlooking a small scale model of the scene at a distance of a few feet. OTOH, a human at the scene can appreciate and interpret for 3D purposes the parallax effects that are evoked by the motion. I suspect that our brain’s are at least as adept at interpreting parallax effects for 3D as they are for interpreting stereo image pairs. I believe that such animations are actually far more effective at presenting 3D information than are stereo pairs – and they don’t require special glasses. I would like to see a lot more of them.

By: Matt McIrvin

Matt McIrvin — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 16:30:33 +0000

My dad worked on computing an earlier geoid back in the Sixties at the Defense Mapping Agency. His job title was “mathematician” because nobody was called a software engineer back then.

By: Doug

Doug — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 16:07:05 +0000

I’m with you, Larian! I’m too young to have an old pair wasting away in a junk drawer.

Where’s the easiest place to get 3D glasses these days?

By: Juergen

Juergen — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 13:35:05 +0000

Are the areas where the geoid has “high terrain” areas with lower or higher gravity? If we look at currents, for example, would they flow from the high to low areas, or from low to high (as they go to the higher gravity)?

By: Erin N.

Erin N. — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 13:32:13 +0000

I can’t wait until a globe manufacturer creates a physical representation…

By: Larian LeQuella

Larian LeQuella — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 13:21:17 +0000

I need to get me some old school 3D glasses!